China News Service, Beijing, April 1 (Reporter Sun Zifa) A stem cell research paper published in the famous international academic journal Nature pointed out that stress hormones can inhibit hair growth by regulating hair follicle stem cells, that is, stress or cause baldness.
The study clarified the mechanism behind this phenomenon in mice and proposed possible methods to reverse the phenomenon.
The paper stated that the growth period and resting period of hair follicles will constantly switch.
Rodent and human studies have shown that stress may affect hair growth, but the exact relationship between the two was previously unknown.
In order to determine the effect of stress on hair growth, Xu Yajie and colleagues from Harvard University in the United States conducted experiments to study how corticosterone (a hormone released by mice under chronic chronic stress) regulates the activity of mouse hair follicles.
The results show that when corticosterone levels increase, the resting period of hair follicles will be prolonged and cannot be regenerated.
Conversely, if the level of corticosterone decreases, the hair follicle stem cells will be activated and new hair will start to grow.
The author of the paper believes that mouse experiments show that corticosterone can inhibit the activation of hair follicle stem cells by inhibiting the production of a protein called GAS6; and in the absence of corticosterone, GAS6 protein has been shown to promote hair follicle stem cells Of proliferation.
Their research results also show that restoring the expression of GAS6 protein can reverse the stress-induced suppression of hair follicle stem cells, and is expected to promote hair regeneration.
"Nature" published news and opinion articles of peer experts at the same time, saying, "This exciting research result has laid the foundation for the development of long-term stress-induced hair loss treatments", but also pointed out that the research results are used in humans. There are still many questions to be answered before: For example, corticosterone in rodents is considered to correspond to cortisol in humans, but it is not clear whether cortisol in the human body can also produce the effects observed here; hair development in mice and humans The long-term is different, which may affect the effectiveness of reversing stress-induced hair stem cell suppression.
(Finish)